By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON June 23, 2011 – Well, now we know. The city has budgeted $15,070,000 for the construction of the Pier at the foot of Brant Street; $3,474,000 more than was projected for the first attempt to get a landmark pier built.
The increased amount is what the city has budgeted but is not necessarily what it will cost to have the Pier completed. The city has pre-qualified 11 construction firms and expects that list to be cut down to eight firms that will have been pre-qualified to build.
Once the pre-qualification work has been completed the city will then issue tender packages and the pre-qualified firms will submit their bids later in the year.
The increased cost was a blow to this Council who had nothing to do with the development of the original plan to build the Pier. Four of the seven Council members, Councillors Craven, Taylor, Dennison and Goldring when he was a Council member, did sit on the Council that made the decision to build a Pier. Mayor Goldring pointed out that this project has been in the works for three terms of office. It started during the term of Mayor MacIsaac, got into construction while Cam Jackson was Mayor and is now in the hands of Rick Goldring who has to clean up the mess and make the best of what is on the table. Tearing down what has been built is an option but it will cost more to tear down what is in place than it will to complete the project
It is probably going to cost an additional $3.5 million (for a total of $15,070,000) to complete the construction of the Pier at the foot of Brant Street which is reported to be less than the cost of tearing down what has been built. Many of the people in the City’s Engineering department who started this project are no longer on staff.
Many in Burlington have said the Pier should be torn down. It will cost as much to tear down what has been built as it will cost to complete the project because the city would have to refund the various grants it has been given to the city.
Mayor Goldring fully expects there to be considerable reaction and public anger to the increase in costs. To his credit he has been firm in ensuring that this time the city administration does a better job of qualifying the firms that want to tender on the project.
The total cost of the Pier is now budgeted for $15,070,000 and that does not include what the city has spent on legal advise to sue the original contractor who walked off the job and the firm that designed the Pier. Those two cases are working their way through the judicial system and it will be years before there is a decision. The city could in time recover much of the cost and be awarded damages but this Council will not be in office when that happens.
[retweet]
